Tahini, Halva & Pistachio Blondies
Plus, desserts for Memorial Day gatherings + a Q&A with cookbook author and food stylist Bebe Black Carminito!
Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, and to celebrate seasonal flavors my list of desserts is heavy on strawberry, rhubarb and ice cream. It also includes key lime pie, one of my favorite tropical desserts, and so much more. Choose one of your favorites from my list of 12 Memorial Day Desserts to kick off summer celebrations.
On my book tour for Zoë Bakes Cookies, I seemed to be following in the footsteps of Bebe Black Carminito, whose book, The Curated Board, came out the same week. She and her book made an impression, because she’d made celebratory boards filled with delicious treasures, which I got to snack on. The book stores all talked about how delightful Bebe is and how fun her events were. I was just sorry we never crossed paths, but I did buy her book and have loved creating treats from it.
Not only is Bebe a cookbook author but she is also a champion of other authors and their books. She runs an Instagram cookbook club, #GetCookingCookbookClub, along with Steph Whitten, that celebrates new cookbooks by actually cooking or baking from them. I was so honored when the group chose Zoë Bakes Cookies as one of their featured books and they baked through several of the cookie recipes. Every week I gasped with delight as I saw dozens and dozens of cookies pop up on instagram. It’s such a gift to an author to see people enjoying the recipes from our books. I was so moved by it and impressed with the level of love and passion they all had.
When I opened Bebe’s book and saw the Tahini, Halva & Pistachio Blondies I knew that’s what I would bake. The combination of flavors sang to me and the ultra rich treats were both comforting and luxurious.
The headnote in Bebe’s book about the origin of this recipe mentioned three women I admire so much, Susan Spungen, Rachel Simons (co-founder and CEO of Seed + Mill) and Yossy Arefi. It’s such a small world sometimes and I love that we support each other’s work. I hope to meet Bebe IRL someday, but feel as if I know her through her book. I am so grateful for the kindness she has shown me and other cookbook authors and I am thrilled to get a chance to sing her praises and share her journey with you below!
Q&A: Bebe Carminito,
Q: Tell us about what inspired you to write your book, The Curated Board.
What inspired me to write The Curated Board was actually in response to the pandemic and lockdown. Prior to the spring of 2020, every Friday night my husband David and I would go out to dinner, our “Friday night date night.” We would not only visit our tried and true favorite haunts, but also new neighborhood spots peppering our streets.
With our new reality looming about, our new norm was sheltering in place and we could no longer visit restaurants. To keep our Friday night ritual going, I thought of creative ways to bring date night in.
I started assembling charcuterie and cheese boards every Friday, trying out a few new recipes while raiding our pantry and fridge as buying groceries and provisions also posed a few challenges. After a month or two, they started taking on a global spin such as an Apéro, Antipasti or even a picnic or dessert theme. I would post the various boards on Instagram with the hashtag #nibbleboardfriday and this in turn caught the eye of my agent Leslie Jonath who said, “I think you have a book here.” The rest, as we say, is history.
Q: Tell us about the #getcookingcookbookclub on Instagram. How did it start and how can people participate?
Our #getcookingcookbookclub just celebrated its 7th anniversary this past April. It pays homage to the thriving, vibrant Instagram cookbook-loving community and fellow cookbook collectors. Our aim and mission is to celebrate female penned works that are globally driven.
Because I am an ardent collector, I wanted to find a way to use my cookbook library in a more intentional manner along with building a like-minded food community. Our cookbook club is co-run by my dear friend and right hand Steph Whitten (@awhiskandaspoon) and together we facilitate this lovely creative pastime.
We choose four baking books a year and 11 cookbooks and host an annual anniversary month in April where participants post recipes from the previous year. We choose books that are recently published as well as a few classics. Anyone can participate by cooking from our featured monthly books. Participants can make recipes of their own choosing, or join in with our group cook and bake-along selections.
Posting to Instagram with #getcookingcookbookclub hashtag and photo-tagging us ensures that we can see and share all posts on our stories in our weekly or bi-weekly roundups. Currently for May, we are doing Sesame by Rachel Simons at Seed + Mill and I'll Bring Dessert by Benjamina Ebuehi through July.
Q: What is your most used cookbook?
Eating Out Loud by Eden Grinshpan
Q: What is your most used piece of kitchen equipment?
My orange Escali digital scale
Q: What is your favorite bakery?
Tartine and Tartine Manufactory in San Francisco, their Morning Bun will change your life.
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Exclusive Recipe: Tahini, Halva & Pistachio Blondies
From Bebe: The first time that I had tahini and halva I was in New York. I had attended a food styling workshop and met Rachel Simons, the owner and CEO of Seed + Mill, and our goody bags included tahini and halva. I was hooked! I do love brownies, but I’ve also never met a blondie I didn’t like. This recipe uses tahini, pistachios, halva, and toasted sesame seeds for a moist blondie with warm Middle Eastern flavors.